Long Beach City College candidates vie for seat; Uranga unopposed

LONG BEACH - A high school teacher, a local attorney, a longtime city employee - all of the candidates for Long Beach City College Board of Trustees are residents who say they are dedicated to serving the community.

Election day is April 10, and this year, the even seats on the five-member LBCC board are up for grabs.

Wilson High School math teacher Davina Keiser is challenging incumbent and board president Doug Otto for District 4, which includes Belmont Shore, Naples and portions of Signal Hill and East Long Beach.

Trustee Roberto Uranga, who joined the board in 2000, is running unchallenged for District 2, which includes West Long Beach and portions of central Long Beach.

Otto, a well-known private practice attorney and Long Beach native, was first elected to the board in 2004.

The 63-year-old married father of five said he's running for a third term to help continue the trustees' mission of improving academic success and guiding the college in tough economic times.

Otto said he's passionate about improving the quality of community college education and providing better access for all students, especially minorities.

"Community college education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century," he said. "It's essential for people of color to be part of the economic mainstream, and to be part of that mainstream, they need to go to college and graduate."

The past few years haven't been easy for LBCC. The college has seen an overall 7 percent reduction in state funding, including an unanticipated loss $3.5 million in mid-year funding cuts. The college is planning to slash at least $5 million from its budget this year and will announce significant cuts over the next several weeks.

The coming years will require experienced leaders and sound fiscal management, Otto said.

"Our biggest challenge will be managing an increased (student) demand with significant reductions in the budget," he said.

Despite a tough financial climate, the board has achieved several milestones in recent years.

Otto said he's most proud of his work on the Long Beach College Promise, which guarantees local students a free semester at LBCC and admission to Cal State Long Beach if they meet the requirements.

Otto also has been instrumental in establishing the Promise Pathways Program, designed to better prepare students for college and increase graduation and transfer rates. The program will kick off this fall with a learning community that will serve more than 1,500 graduates from the Long Beach Unified School District.

The 57-year-old married mother of two has seen her share of budget cuts in her more than 30 years as a teacher in the LBUSD. Keiser also serves as treasurer for the Teachers Association of Long Beach, the LBUSD's teachers union.

As treasurer of TALB, Keiser said she managed to turn a $400,000 deficit into a $250,000 reserve in six years.

Keiser, who works as an algebra teacher at her alma matter Wilson High, said she decided to run for the LBCC board after hearing about her former students' struggles in community college.

"My kids would come back to visit and so many of them would talk about how hard it is get into classes," she said. "We need to move the budget cuts away from the classroom as much as possible."

The Long Beach native said her priorities include a balanced budget, high quality teachers and affordable access to college.

Keiser said she sees students struggle in courses, such as math, once they reach college. LBCC, she said, should have more programs that will help students transition from high school to college.

"I'm a teacher. I'm in the trenches and I see first-hand what kids are going through," she said. "I think we can take a better look at the budget and make changes that that won't have such a negative impact on students."

Roberto Uranga has run unopposed for all three of his four-year terms since joining the board in 2000. He's now running unopposed for a fourth term.

"I think it's a sign that my constituents think I'm doing a good job," said the Long Beach resident, who works as an administrative officer for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Uranga, a 58-year-old father of three, said he's long been active in community issues, along with his wife, former Long Beach City Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga.

After being heavily involved in the LBCC's establishment of trustee districts in the 1990s, Uranga said he decided to run for a seat in an effort to decrease dropout rates and advocate for more Latino administrators.

Uranga in 2011 was the first Latino to be elected as Chair of the Association of Community College Trustees, which represents more than 6,500 trustees from community colleges across the country.

This year, he made the cover Trustee Quarterly magazine, the officials publication of the Association of Community College Trustees.

While the board has made significant progress, Uranga said, trustees will face major hurdles over the next few years.

"We're going to have to figure out how to provide more opportunities for higher education with less resources," he said. "It's going to be a major challenge, but I know we can do it."